Flo-ri-da

Also back in March, Dallas surprised me a with a trip to Florida for a quick visit with my friend, Jessica, who was also in town visiting her grandma, and to do some shopping. Let's just say, I wish I had skipped the shopping altogether and stayed with Jessica and her grandmother the whole time. This was my guest room at her Grandma's Condo--- Beautiful and very cozy!

She treated us to fresh squeezed OJ each morning too. TOTAL PAMPERING :) 

And I got to spend time with my dear friend and her sweet little one. In the blogging world she is called Chick or Chickadee :) SHE IS SO SWEET!!!!!!

Out of respect for Jessica I am not posting pics of this sweet girls face, but she stole my heart for sure. Made me miss my little guys a ton while I was away, but it was so fun getting some Girl Time!

Jessica, you are someone I just LOVE to hang out with :) You are such a wonderful Sister in Christ!

We started our friendship back in Auburn in our small group bible study, and my life has been blessed knowing you. I always feel like we have mini revivals whenever we get together and I know that has a lot to do with you :) 

This time around was even more fun because we were able to talk as mommies that are trying to raise children that love the Lord. Thank you for our friendship! Even if we only get to see each other once every 4 years or more ;)

I took lots of pictures at the zoo because I wanted to share them with my boys. They enjoyed looking through the fun I had. 

We even got to go out to the beach one morning. I am so spoiled by our beaches in Exuma. We got to the beach nice and early after crossing the toll roads and paying the parking fee so we could get a good spot before the crowds came. 

And this scene just blows my mind. We got there with a few people nearby, but in about an hour or so it was crowded like this... and this was still and pretty secluded beach...not the busy beach crowd--HOLY SMOKES! 

Jessica and I stayed up late talking each night, hitting up some fancy thrift stores and the zoo, and just hanging out. And as I said before... I left them way too soon. Her grandma lives in Naples and I was doing my shopping in Fort Lauderdale to put stuff on the mailboat that comes to us. So I flew in to Fort Lauderdale and drove over to them for a couple of days then headed back for my insane shopping spree. 

I didn't take too many pictures during my shopping time. But I was able to go to Ikea, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Best Buy! Those spots took me almost two days to cover. And I was still running around like mad at the last minute.

Dallas treated me to a couple nights in the Westin :) It was nice, not as nice as I was hoping for, but that's probably why I got the discounted rate! I am out trying to pack all my goodies into the car in the parking lot so that I can fit a few more things in before going to the boat in the morning. I was so stressed this night when I knew I had spent a ton of money and it was all locked up here in the car sitting in the parking lot. All I could do was a say a couple prayers over it and trust it would be okay.

 I was gone for a total of 4 nights, and I was very anxious to get back to my dudes and tiny island :) The crowds of South Florida are best managed in small doses. Thanks babe! I did have fun, and learned many little lessons :)